System and method of estimating the three-dimensional size of an object for packaging or storing the object
The invention discloses a system and method for estimating a three-dimensional (3D) packaging size of an object. The method has a self calibration function to correct the scale in the measurement environment so as to reduce errors caused by human operations. The system comprises an image capture unit for capturing images of the measurement environment and objects; a scale correction unit for performing the calibration using a reference object of a known size; and an object size estimation unit for detecting the position of an object to be estimated in the image data received from the image capture unit and estimating the 3D size of the object according to the calibrated scale.
1. A method of estimating the three-dimensional size of an object for packaging or storing the object, the method comprising:
providing first three-dimensional image data of a measurement environment and a reference object with a known length, known width and known height in the measurement environment;
constructing a back-projection model by finding a correspondence between the first three-dimensional image data of the reference object with the known length, known width and known height and the measurement environment to construct a back-projection model;
providing second three-dimensional image data of the measurement environment and an object to be estimated in the measurement environment; and
detecting a position of the object to be estimated in the measurement environment in said second three-dimensional image data; and
using a virtual space frame in the back-projection model with a shape of a box to enclose the object to be estimated therein so as to determine a three-dimensional size for packaging or storing the object to be estimated in accordance with the three-dimensional size of the box.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reference object has a rigid body with a shape of a cuboid or cubic.
3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising outputting data through an output interface, wherein the output interface comprises at least one of a RS232 port, a wireless channel and an Ethernet port for connecting to Internet.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further being applied to detect a volume of a cuboid object.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising using at least one of a barcode scanning device, an electronic scale and a character recognition system, to obtain information of an object.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further being applied to a logistic process to estimate a space taken by each good to valuate and estimate delivering costs.
7. The method according to claim 1 , further being applied to a receiving process in postal delivery of goods to estimate a space taken by each good to valuate and estimate delivering costs.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further being applied to a receiving process in aviation transport of goods to estimate a space taken by each good to valuate and estimate delivering costs.